The existing 10 year basic education in the Philippines, the only 10 year basic education in the world (except Myanmar which has 11) undergoes a lot of battles among the minds of the academicians which focuses to uplift the quality of education in the Philippines. With Pres. Ninoy Aquino’s speech, he stated that he wants to give more emphasis to the education system of our country by adding 2 years of basic education or otherwise called as the k+12 (K+6+4+2), where Kinder is a basic requirement for a pupil to be accepted in Grade 1, 6 years of elementary education, 4 years of Junior High School and 2 years of Senior High School where at their senior high, the students will be given electives in the field of their interest such as economics, music, arts, entrepreneurships and the like.
The additional 2 years in the senior high will not replace the tertiary level, but it will be just a preparation on their college life or, they are expected to land a job after graduating from senior high school through the electives they have enrolled in.
Adding additional two years on basic education may sound absurd on most of the parents who send their children at all cost, even there is a free education, the numbers of children falling to their school age does not go to school due to several reasons where poverty is the bottom line. Most of those who go to public schools are less fortunate so they intended to work rather than to go to school because of the fact they are hungry. How much more if there will be two additional years for basic education?
But, this K + 12 will not be the issue on how to produce quality graduates who are globally competitive and productive members of our society. What the government should need is to address first the elements of the educational system where it needs a lot of emphasis to consider, such as the number of teachers, the number of classrooms, chairs, instructional materials, books and equipments.
If the government can find answers to scarcity of these elements, perhaps, the Philippines is ready to implement the k + 12 program of the government. If not, we are just facing a big challenge whether we are on the right direction or not.
Quality Education is broad in general, but if we are able to find its specific meaning, we can achieve this very goal of Education in the Philippines. The government should think if the proposed additional two years will be the “top priorities “to address the problem in deteriorating education in the country.
By: Christian N. Carizal, T-II Tipo Elementary School
